Hair
by JRavenTheFangirl
Summary: Alyss has a paper due in English the next morning... but it wasn't her fault that she hadn't written it yet. She'd just been helping Will a lot with his studying. So it's time, he thinks, to return the favor. (Prequel short story to my other fic Lovely Bones. There're references to things in that story, but this can stand alone, too.)


**A/N: This was a request from a nice anon on Tumblr. It's a reference to my other multichapter story Lovely Bones, where I talk about Alyss's habit of twirling her hair around her finger. Please go check it out. I hope you like this. :)**

Alyss was getting stumped left and right. Even though Will was mostly distracted by his book, he still frequently looked over at her, on the other side of the bed next to him, just to see how she was doing. Nine times out of ten she was sitting there, thinking, instead of writing.

"Having trouble?" he asked, once.

She nodded. "A little…" she mumbled. "I just have to find a good starting point, and then I'll be fine. The introduction is always the hardest part."

"It is," he agreed. "If you need help, I'm here. You helped _me_ with _my_ essays."

"I'll be fine, but thanks."

Will smiled. He knew she'd answer that way, but he really would offer his help if she needed it. For now, though, he turned back to his book. Alyss was much smarter than him. She could figure it out. That fact didn't affect his pride too much, because part of him liked a sort of protection around him.

Not that they weren't equals. Outside of college, when they were getting coffee, or in his dorm room that was pretty much _their_ dorm room now, she was a friend, and a lover. Not an upperclassman.

Two years had gone by, but it looked more like five, the way they were around each other.

Will had been really, really busy lately. He had a test in practically _every_ subject, and two papers due… It was so stressful he'd been tearing his hair out, trying to do everything at once. College could be really difficult, people said. Will listened. He just didn't take them _this_ seriously. He'd have died, or gone bald had he not had the greatest girlfriend in the _world_ helping him.

So now all those tests and papers were over with, and finally he could take a _break_.  
Unfortunately, Alyss wasn't so lucky. Between her own tests, and helping Will out, she had neglected to write one paper of her own. So, while Will was lying on the bed reading Great Expectations, a Charles Dickens novel, she was on her laptop writing a paper on Romeo and Juliet. Will wouldn't have been so interested in books so old and famous, but Alyss was an English major two years ahead of him, and was always going on and on about certain books and why they were so good. She didn't just tell him the plot, she explained the whole anatomy. It was inspiring. Will wanted to understand more, so he was doing his research.

But even though Alyss was one of the smartest people he'd ever met, everybody gets stumped sometimes.

He noticed a while ago, that when she was deep in thought, she'd twist a piece of hair around her finger, but she _never_ realized she was doing it- unlike Will.

"You're doing it again," he said, but it was too late. Alyss had put her hand down and started typing.

"Doing what?" she asked, somehow typing _as_ she talked.

"The hair thing. You twist a piece of hair around your finger when you're thinking," he told her.

Alyss rolled her eyes and shortly laughed. "I don't do that."

"Yes, you _do_. But don't worry," Will said, "I like it. It's cute."

"It would be, but I don't do that."

He chuckled. "Okay, if you say so." He dropped it… for now. Until she did it again and he'd have to point it out to her.

So he waited. He'd given up entirely on reading his book and instead focused on the girl beside him, trying to write a paper, and waiting for her to accidentally play with her hair again.

"Looking for something?" she asked, suddenly.

Will realized it'd be easier to catch her in the act if he pretended like he wasn't waiting for it.  
"Nope," he said, casually. "Just reading." He turned back to the brilliant, illustrious piece of literature in front of him, that he was using only for an excuse to look at Alyss.

It paid off. Just a minute later, he caught her doing it again.

"Aha!" he exclaimed, catching her hand. "See? You did it!"

Alyss looked. Sure enough, a strand of pale, shining hair was wrapped around her finger.

For a moment she froze. Then she narrowed her eyes, and leaned in close to him, looking him straight in his. The tips of their noses touched.

Slowly, she slipped her hand out of Will's. "That was _one_ time," she defended, smiling. Before he could give her a kiss, she leaned away and returned to her paper.

"I'll be watching…" Will grinned. "You'll do it again, you'll see."

Alyss rolled her eyes. "I'll use your help if it'll keep you busy, you big dork," she teased.

"I _want_ to help." Will put his book, sandwiching his bookmark in the pages, on the nightstand next to the bed and sat up. "Let me read what you have so far."

Alyss put her laptop on Will's lap, and he read the first paragraph she had on the paper, plus the starting sentence of her next paragraph.

"It's good," Will said. "How about you start your next paragraph saying something like… 'Juliet was emotionally young and vulnerable even before the story began'. Explain her state of mind before the story starts, before talking about her meeting with Romeo. Like a preface."

Alyss smiled. "That's a good idea," she said. "Thanks." She started to type.

Two more sentences appeared on the practically blank screen in front of them.

"How long did the professor say this had to be?" Will asked.

"Three pages."

"I should probably get dinner, then?"

Alyss laughed. "Yes. Just pick up a pizza or something."

"Cheese?"

"You guessed it."

When Will came back with a big pizza box, Alyss had most of a page written.

"I like it," he said, upon reading her updates. "I don't think it'll be as hard to write as it sounds." He took a piece of pizza out of the box, and bit into it.

Alyss got up from the bed before he could give the laptop back to her. " _I'm_ getting a _plate_ ," she said, making a point of it.

"Good for you," grinned Will.

Alyss kindly brought them both glasses of water, as well. And, with that, they were set to spend the rest of the night with each other, writing her paper.

Her thesis that the paper centered around was that Juliet didn't _really_ love Romeo. It was a very interesting, well-thought-out theory that Will agreed with. She did most of the writing, of course, but Will helped her thought process along. It was easier to think of something sometimes when you can say it out loud to someone. That, and he also was watching to see when she was going to twirl her hair again.

Around the time they were writing the second page, Will started to yawn. Alyss chuckled when she saw it.

"Getting tired?" she asked.

"Nope," answered Will. "I'm good. Yawning is just something we do when our brains aren't getting enough oxygen." He gently butted her head with his, like a play punch, almost. "It's your fault, though."

Alyss raised her eyebrows accusingly at him. "Excuse me?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm not getting enough oxygen because you're taking my breath away."

A wide blush spread across her face, as she looked away and tried to laugh it off. "You're too much," she muttered. She leaned in again, and kissed him quickly above his lip, like she always did. "Let's write this paper."

But he kept smiling at her, like her attempt to change the mood hadn't worked at all. It hadn't. Not on him. "I love you," he said.

Alyss stared back. "I love you too."

"I'm sorry you haven't gotten around to this until now. It's pretty much my fault."

But Alyss shook her head. "No, no, Will," she said, "you would have passed your tests without me. I just wanted you to be _extra_ prepared. It was my decision to help you."

Will started to smile. Even such simple words could lift the guilt off his chest, if they were from her. "Good," he said. He didn't know what else to say. "When's it due?"

"The paper? Tomorrow in first period."

Will's eyebrows raised into his forehead. "Oh. Then we should get back to it."

"Yes, but don't rush. We'll get it done by ten tomorrow." Alyss faced the screen, like her boyfriend, but not with as much urgency as he had. "If you rush, your writing suffers."

"You're so smart sometimes…"

" _However_ ," she began again, "if you _dilly-dally_ , your grade suffers."

"That wasn't dilly-dallying!"

"Romance is distracting, so stop being sweet! No romance until this paper is complete!" Alyss was 30% smiling, so Will knew she wasn't totally serious, but she meant it.

Will sputtered out a laugh. He needed to point out that, "We're writing about _Romeo and Juliet_!"

"Nooo romance." Alyss held her arms up in an x-sign, creating a small, fake barrier between them.

With a sigh, Will gave in. At least, he _could_ see her point. If they talked too much, they'd surely get distracted by each other and never write this in time. "Fiiine," he groaned. "Then I guess we'll have to finish this paper as soon as possible."

"Yes, let's do that-!"

So they faced the screen again. They reread everything on the second page up until the last sentence… Hm…

Alyss started to twirl her hair again, as a minute passed, and they couldn't think of anything.

Will smiled at the edge of his mouth. She'd said no romance, but… this wasn't romance. This was catching her red handed.

This time, he decided to use a different tactic than just telling her she was doing it. Instead of catching her hand, or letting her know, he reached around and starting touching and playing with her hair.

Alyss froze, and turned to look at him… seeing, in the process, that she did _indeed_ have a habit of twirling her hair when she thought.

However, she chose to ignore that. She pulled her hand out of the strand of hair, and caught _Will's_ hand. "Noooo romance," she told him, again.

"No, this wasn't romance- you saw it! You _do_ have a habit of twirling your hair!"

" _Noooooooooooooo romance._ "

 _She's stubborn, of course,_ Will thought, with a chuckle. _I knew that._

Will did follow the no romance rule, though, until they had finally finished the paper. Well- finished according to Will was different than it was to Alyss.

"It's three pages!" Will insisted. "We're okay!"

"No, it's one _line_ away from finishing the third page," she defended. "We're one sentence away from done."

Will rolled his eyes; he didn't want to waste too much time on this. "Alright," he said. "It's your paper, after all."

Alyss finished the last line, and, after reading through it twice and editing, they were _done_. Alyss emailed it to the professor, and let out a big sigh of… "thank God". "It's done," she smiled.

Will swung his arms around her, and tackled her down to the bed. "Romance ensues!" he exclaimed.

"Oh noo save me!" Alyss cried.

They fell, Will on top of her, giggling and giving each other quick pecks on the lips, nose and cheeks. It was like they were making up for that last hour where romance was outlawed. It was just an hour, but they'd missed this already. Minutes later they were still lying there. Will's arms were still wrapped around Alyss, and grins spread giddily on their faces.

"Any more papers to write?" Will whispered in her ear.

She shook her head, careful not to move too much, or she might hit him. "Nope," said Alyss. "I'm done. We're _both_ done, now."

"Great. Then we can go out partying for the rest of the night. I hear there's a crazy, weekly frat party on the other side of the campus."

"Oh?" she replied. They were both still whispering, even though there was no one around. "That sounds fun."

"I know. Put on your party dress and we'll go get turnt."

Alyss snorted. " _Turnt,_ " she repeated. "Who are you, even?"

"So Netflix then?"

"Netflix."

Their favorite show to watch at the time was an American show called Scrubs. It was cute, and funny, but also deep and thought-provoking. Every night they would eat dinner and watch three or more episodes together- a kind of tradition, that let them, no matter how busy they were, spend some quality time together every day.

They were on the fifth season and still loving it... but Alyss was going to fall asleep before the end of the episode.  
She leaned her head on Will's shoulder halfway through, and closed her eyes. That made _two_ of them not watching the show.

Alyss looked so graceful, and delicate when she slept, which was ironic knowing that in real life, she could ruin your life (if she wanted to) with a single phone call. Nevertheless…

Will fell asleep, resting his head on hers not long afterwards. There was no pressure on them, now. No stress. Just each other.

(When they woke up, they realized they'd forgotten to turn off their TV and it was still playing, two seasons later.)


End file.
